Traditional American Song - Oh Susanna
Oh, I come from Alabama, with my banjo on my knee. I'm goin' to Louisiana My true love for to see.
Oh! Susanna, now don't you cry for me. For I come from Alabama, with my banjo on my knee.
It rained all night the day I left; The weather was so dry. The sun so hot I froze to death. Susanna don't you cry. Oh! Susanna, now don't you cry for me. For I come from Alabama, with my banjo on my knee.
I had a dream the other night When everything was still; I thought I saw Susanna, A-comin' down the hill. Oh! Susanna, now don't you cry for me. For I come from Alabama, with my banjo on my knee.
A buckwheat cake was in her mouth; A tear was in her eye. I said, "I come from Dixie Land; Susanna, don't you cry!" Oh! Susanna, now don't you cry for me. For I come from Alabama, with my banjo on my knee.
In 1846, Stephen Foster moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and became a bookkeeper with his brother's steamship company. While in Cincinnati, Foster wrote "Oh! Susanna", possibly for his men's social club.[1][2] The song was first performed by a local quintet at a concert in Andrews' Eagle Ice Cream Saloon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 11, 1847.[3] It was first published by W. C. Peters & Co. in Cincinnati in 1848.[4] Other minstrel troupes performed the work, and, as was common at the time, many registered the song for copyright under their own names. As a result, it was copyrighted and published at least 21 times[5] from February 25, 1848, through February 14, 1851.[2
Thanks to http://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/sing-out-loud-traditional-songs
